Sonovate takes on the banks with new contract finance product

Its new contract finance offering, designed to make paying and managing contractors easy and profitable, has already surpassed the banks as the number one provider of contract finance to start-up, micro and SME recruiters.

Founded by former recruiters Richard Prime and Damon Chapple, who between them have over 30 years of experience working in the recruitment sector, Sonovate offers a unique, fully insured, contract finance model backed by cloud technology. Agencies working with Sonovate are paid 100 per cent of their profits the week after timesheets are authorised. In addition, Sonovate takes care of all the admin associated with paying contractors, including invoicing clients, credit control, and managing timesheets.

Richard Prime, co-founder and CEO of Sonovate, comments: “Until now, recruitment companies seeking contract finance have had to turn to banks, which offer off-the-shelf products that are based on outdated approaches to lending and are not tailored to the unique requirements of recruitment businesses. This results in complex, rigid contract finance agreements that hinder an agency’s ability to scale by placing limits on, for example, the number of contractors that can be placed with a single client.

“As recruiters ourselves we understand first-hand the frustrations associated with funding and running contractors. For many, the cashflow and finance admin headache presents the biggest barrier to growth. So we built a service that enables recruiters to focus their time on recruiting, rather than worrying about chasing payments.”

The main benefits of working with Sonovate include:

• A complete contract finance and administration package that can be set up in less than 24 hours and requires no up-front investment. It can be easily scaled as the business grows, meaning admin and cashflow are no longer barriers to growth.

• A solution superior to the sophisticated back-office systems operated by major recruitment businesses, giving start-up and small recruitment businesses a competitive edge even against established players in their market.

• Access to the cashflow required to scale quickly - recruiters are paid their profits the week after contractors’ timesheets are signed off, rather than when the invoice is paid.

• Not tied into onerous long-term, restrictive finance agreements based on projections or current revenues - contract recruiters can use Sonovate as little or as much as they like.

The contractor market is growing rapidly. It is currently worth &pound24.1 billion and this figure is set to grow further as a high percentage of the most skilled graduates among Generation Y, who will make up a third of the workforce in the next decade, cite professional contracting as the most attractive career path available.